


FEDERICO II and the Teutonic Knights

by carraville



Series: what actually happened [5]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Historical References, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 07:12:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18544855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carraville/pseuds/carraville
Summary: “What are the people like there?” the more curious Lovi continued to ask, didn't realize that he had completely dropped the alert to Gil.Gill, noticing this, smiled and continued: “In fact, our people can safely do business and trade with them. The Egyptians brought us treasure and goods we had never seen before. But it was always difficult when we were fighting. From a warrior's point of view, you have to admire the Turks. If they truly believe in Christ, no one will be stronger, braver or better at battles than they are, but God bless, we have conquered them...”Lovi's eyes sparkled as he listened, and Gil became more and more pleased with what he said. The two chatted until dusk, when Salza came to call for Gil.





	FEDERICO II and the Teutonic Knights

**Author's Note:**

> The references for this part: A Short History of Italy ( H.Hearder, D. P. Waley): Chapter 2 (Early medieval Italy), part 3 (the empire and the church). The Renaissance of The Twelfth Century (Charles Homer Haskins): chapters 8 (historiography) and chapter 9 (the translators of Greek and Arabic work).
> 
> The history of the Teutonic order is basically searched from the Internet, so it can seem very vague. I’m a fan of Romano, so I didn’t read any book about the Teutonic knights...

Streets of Palermo, Sicily, 1198. A small boy in a curial garb rushed through the crowd of people in the street. The adults who were knocked into and ready to blame saw the boy’s face and then automatically moved out of the way.

Romano walked quickly, frowning, looking around for his target.

Finally, in a corner of the Arab district, among the crowd of people listening to the crappy poetry of an Arab minstrel, Romano found the boy he was looking for.

Unlike Romano, the boy was dressed in tattered cloth and looked like a wandering child you can find everywhere at first glance.

“Federico! Finally found you!” shouted Romano crossly, but Federico didn’t look back at his little friend, “Your mother and people from the church are looking for you! How many times have I told you not to run around? What if the Normans find you here?!”

Federico turned unwillingly and stared blankly at Romano, whose appearance looked close to Federico's age.

“You shouted so loud, even if the Normans didn't know I was here, they’ll know now.” Said Federico, deadpan.

Romano turned red and berated: “shut up!”

Romano went up to Federico, took his hand, and forced the boy to follow him to the royal court. Federico looked back at the bard, reluctant to leave.

“Come on?! If the church knows you always hang out with the Arabs and Greeks, they might soon withdraw their promise to be your patron.” Romano tugged the reluctant Federico forward, “If so, your mother will be very upset. Federico, your mother, she wants to see you. She's not doing well... ”

Romano's voice grew mournful, causing Federico to bend to his will. Federico followed him in silence.

“I knew mother's days were numbered. I will be truly alone soon.” Federico said quietly, not acting like a four-year-old.

“Who says you will be alone, you, you still got me.” Said Romano without looking back. Federico guessed he had blushed.

“Yeah.” Federico smiled, “Thank you, Romano.”

“Em...” Lovi responded bashfully, and turned his topic, “Why do you always come to these places anyway? These are not the places for royalty.”

“Because I'm interested!” Federico answered with a smile, “Romano, I long for knowledge, all kinds of knowledge. Not just Latin, but also Greek, Arabic...Not just religious, but also scientific, literary...I want to know more. I want to meet different people. I want to go to different places. I want to experience all the most colorful civilizations of mankind. There are only routine at the palace, and a posse of insincere people. I don't like there. I like here! Romano, aren't you glad you were born where you are? You don't need to cross the sea to meet all kinds of people. The mixture of different ethnic groups makes your colorful culture. Don't you think it's great?”

“You this boy really have a strange mind...” said Romano thoughtfully, “I've never thought of it that way before...”

****

As the years passed, Federico grew into a man. Because emperor Otto had refused to take Pope Innocent iii's claim to secular sovereignty seriously, Innocent iii made his client Federico the emperor of the Holy Roman empire.

Yet Federico ii was no more ‘obedient’ than his predecessor. Federico ii had grew up in Sicily. He cared little about the German problem and was more concerned with strengthening and developing his kingdom of Sicily. As his power grew, the church and other Italian cities opposed to the emperor’s ruling felt threatened. Therefore, most of Federico ii’s days were spent in fighting against the church confederacy.

Federico ii was excommunicated or deposed by three Popes in his lifetime, but he still carried out the task of the Crusades, albeit in a diplomatic rather than a war way. He made a treaty with the sultan, which gave Christians free access to Jerusalem. However, having been excommunicated, he could only lonely crown himself king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Later, Federico ii and his knights returned to Sicily to save it from the wrath of the church army.

On the day of Federico ii's return, Romano was reading Federico's collection of Italian dialect poems in the palace courtyard. When Salza and Federico were chatting happily, Gil sneaked out to play and meet the attentive Romano.

Gil leaned his little head over to the manuscript Romano was holding and looked curiously at it. The disturbed Lovi turned his back restlessly. Gil looked at the back of Lovi's little head in disappointment and thought for a moment.

“You can read a lot, Lord Romano.” said Gil with a smile, but Lovi ignored him, he said again, “I wish I could be like you. During the Crusades, a lot of aliens’ languages made me curious, but I could understand none of them. You and Lord Federico are different. You have people who can speak Greek, Arabic and Hebrew. Because of it, you can understand so many languages!”

Lovi, who had been so praised by Gil, relented at last, and smiled smugly.

Gil saw the change in Lovi and got even more excited. Suddenly something occurred to him, and he began to search all over himself. At last he found a worn piece of parchment among the robes. He handed the parchment to Romano and asked: “Lord Romano, this was slipped to me by a Greek in Constantinople when I followed Lord Federico's father, Henry vi, on the fourth crusade. I kept it. There was only one sentence on it, but I never understood what it meant.”

Romano took the parchment, glanced at it, and replied quickly: “Hum, Easy! It says ‘people can get a lot of wealth from this country, but ****God****  will make them suffer a greater loss’.”

“Oh, this's what it means!” Gil took a tumble, “This is scolding us, isn’t it? Can't believe I’ve kept it for so long!”

“Constantinople...the east, is it really so bountiful?” asked Lovi, blushing, ashamed of his restless curiosity, “Is it really as splendid and magnificent as the books say?”

Gil sensed Lovi's interest. He looked at Lovi and saw the expression of his companion, though restrained, was curious and cordial. Right! Lovi had grown up in Sicily and had never been where Gil had been. Federico ii was always interested in Greek and Arab culture, and he had translated so many books about it. The people of Romano were also interested in these cultures under Federico's influence. How could Romano not have been affected by a little bit?

And Gil, a knight who was born in Acre and followed his bosses' conquests to the east, whose experiences might be exactly what Lovi was eager to know.

Thinking of this, Gil at once kindly shared with Lovi what he had seen in the east: “Yes, at least in my own experience, eastern culture is more advanced than Latin culture at the moment. We have been to Zion and seen its high towers; been to Tyre and seen its fine glass and well-watered gardens and orchards; been to Constantinople and seen those tall buildings and gorgeous palaces. The number of them are so many that if you don't see them through your own eyes, you won't believe it. Once you see them, you'll never forget them.”

“What are the people like there?” the more curious Lovi continued to ask, didn't realize that he had completely dropped the alert to Gil.

Gill, noticing this, smiled and continued: “In fact, our people can safely do business and trade with them. The Egyptians brought us treasure and goods we had never seen before. But it was always difficult when we were fighting. From a warrior's point of view, you have to admire the Turks. If they truly believe in Christ, no one will be stronger, braver or better at battles than they are, but God bless, we have conquered them...”

Lovi's eyes sparkled as he listened, and Gil became more and more pleased with what he said. The two chatted until dusk, when Salza came to call for Gil.

On the way home, Gil asked Salza a question. This was actually the question Lovi asked Gil before, but Gil couldn’t answer. He was confused, so he turned to his boss for help: “Boss, Lord Romano is really curious about the eastern civilization I described! So he asked me a question, but I couldn't answer it. He asked me ‘why should we plunder and destroy all this beauty, when the civilization there was so astonishing?”

Salza, on his horse, looked straight ahead as if he hadn't heard Gil's question. Gil stared at his boss questioningly, desperate for an answer.

“Gil, for us, this is not an issue to focus too much on. ” Salza spoke slowly. He turned to stare at Gil earnestly, “Because if you get too caught up in it, you may never be able to pick up your sword again. Without the sword, who are we then?”

****

In March 1239, the Teutonic knights made another brief visit to Sicily. Gil was there to attend the funeral of his former boss Salza. For the death of his old friend, Federico ii looked very sorrowful.

Gil meet Lovi again and shared his journey with him as he did in the past, but intentionally or not skipped the bloody battles that followed the violent occupation of Prussia.

On the day of his departure, Gil said to Lovi with a smile: “See you next time, Lord Romano. We're going to conquer Prussia again! The next time I see you, I may have also become a country like you!”

“Good luck...” said Lovi, obviously feeling a little reluctant to part from this time, but he thought they would soon meet again, as they had done before, “You're always on the move and indeed need a home. Remember to write down meaningful experiences and tell them to me next time we meet.”

“Yes, I will!” Gil grinned. He jumped on to his horse and waved to Lovi, “Wait for my good news!”

The little Lovi watched the horsemen going away and the little Gil getting smaller and smaller. What he didn’t expect was that he would not see this silver-haired boy for many years to come.

The Teutonic knights were focused on conquering the savage Prussia till 1285. After the deaths of Salza and Federico ii, the Teutonic knights had no reason to visit Sicily anymore. The only time the young Gil ever set foot in Apennines was when they moved their headquarters to Venice after the fall of Acre.

With the death of Federico ii's illegitimate son, the Hohenstaufen family's influence in Sicily dissipated completely. After that, France and Spain successively intervened in the southern Italy, turning it into a battleground for their power. The equal, free and colorful cultural life of Federico's time was getting further and further away.

As the center of the conflict between various forces, little Romano lived in fear everyday. And gradually, he forgot his little promise with little Gilbert.

Fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Prussia's description of the Turks actually comes from Gesta Francorum, a record of the first crusade by an unknown author (a crusader). Prussia hadn’t been born yet in the first crusade, but let's just take it as he heard it from the elder.
> 
> “People can get a lot of wealth from this country, but God will make them suffer a greater loss” originated from a historian in the 13th century who questioned the correctness of the crusade. Henry vi joined the fourth crusade. This crusade recklessly destroyed the material remains of Byzantine culture, and it also harmed the Christian world, because it destroyed the buffer cities against the Asian invasion. You can see more information from The Renaissance of The Twelfth Century.


End file.
